Mapping Complex Electronics Design to Project Life Cycle

The life
cycle for complex electronics design is a subset of the total project
or system life cycle. However, complex electronics also follows the
same basic development process as the project. To understand how the
two fit together, this section provides:

Terminology
used for life cycle phases varies within NASA, other government
agencies, and industry. The terms used here are a commonly defined set.
The listed project activities are meant to define the main activities
the project will be performing. The life cycle is defined as a
Waterfall life cycle because it is conceptually easy to understand. The
actual timing of the phases and activities will vary with the chosen
system life cycle, such as a spiral or iterative model.

The
mapping between complex electronics activities and project life cycle
phases is meant as a guideline only. The actual time when an activity
is performed is dependent of the project, the life cycle chosen for
system development, and the complex electronics type.

In the
table above, the project “preliminary design” phase
included the planning, requirements, and preliminary design for the
complex electronics. The life cycles section of this assurance plan
relates to the life cycle for complex electronics, and not for the
project as a whole. Therefore, planning and requirements are broken out
into separate phases.

The
complex electronics development activities are grouped into the
following phases:

Design Process

Complex
Electronics (CE) Activities

Planning

Planning
(for development, verification, safety, and assurance)

Requirements

Determine
CE requirements

Feasibility
studies

Preliminary
Design

Architectural
design

Design
Entry

Design
verification

Detailed
Design

Synthesis

Simulation

Timing
Analysis

Design
verification

Implementation

Floorplanning

Place
and Route

Program/Manufacture

Device
testing

Integration
and Testing

Integration
with other electronics

Testing
at board or sub-system level

Functional
testing at system level

Environmental
testing

Complete
verification activities

Operations
and Maintenance

Upgrade
CE (if reprogrammable)

Verification
and Validation (V&V) are not included in the above table, because
they are processes that occur throughout the life cycle. For example,
testing is one method to verify that the system meets the requirements.
An acceptance test or demonstration is a validation activity if the
customer uses it to determine if the system is performing as the
customer expects. Tests usually occur later in the project life cycle.
Prototyping and simulation are early-life cycle validation activities.
Reviews at each life cycle phase that determine that product (design
architecture, low-level design, and test procedure) correctly and
completely meet the requirements are verification activates.